Bobby Takes a Vacation
by BookWorm38
Summary: an overtired Bobby decides to take a vacation. complications arise.
1. Chapter 1

-1_Bobby takes a vacation--- Book Worm 38- a pale imitation of book worm 37. _

Bobby drummed his fingers on his desk as if to the tune of _Mary Had a Little Lamb_. Humph, Bobby sighed, it really was too bad that Deakins would never put a piano in the bullpen, at least that would spice things up a bit. He didn't really know what was wrong with him; it just seemed that his life had become so hum drum. Even his cases, which he had always taken so much pride and gratification in solving, had become tedious work that expended so much of his energy that he wasn't sure that they were worth it anymore. If it wasn't for Alex, Bobby was sure he would have already left, but he just didn't feel right leaving without explaining things to her. The trouble was, he wasn't sure that he could even explain things to himself. Perhaps it was time for a vacation. As his mother always said, if you can't change the situation, you can at least change the scenery. Generally that meant she would buy new curtains or kick out his dad, but Bobby felt that her advice was equally applicable in this situation. He knew that he had at least four months of vacation time saved up and he wasn't getting any younger. The only things that he had to decide now was when and where.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Deakins stared at the vacation request form on his desk. Of all people, he never expected Bobby Goren to put in a request for a month of vacation. Sure, Deakins knew that Bobby had the most saved vacation time in the history of City employees but Bobby just wasn't the type to take a vacation from his work--- it was his life. Bobby, Deakins reflected, had been acting a little strange lately. Perhaps something was wrong with his mother, but why wouldn't Bobby use some of his family sick leave? A month just seemed so extreme for such a homebody like Bobby. Deakins scratched his head, maybe this was just somebody's idea of a joke and Deakins just couldn't figure out the punch line. Ah, the only thing he could figure to do was to ask Bobby himself… if not, someone had a lot of explaining to do.

Deakins stepped out of his office and he spotted Bobby drumming his fingers on his desk but looking noticeably happier than he had in months. Deakins looked around to make sure that Eames wasn't anywhere near, if this was a joke, he didn't want to look stupid in front of his whole team. "Goren, did you put in a request of leave for a month of vacation?"

Bobby's head shot up and he let out a laugh. Deakins had actually startled him. Him! Robert Goren who was always, _always_ so aware of his surroundings and who was around him. This whole idea of a vacation just had him so excited that he was positively giddy. "What's that Captain? I didn't quite catch what you said."

Deakins rolled his eyes, maybe Bobby needed to see a doctor more than he needed a vacation, " I asked if you put in this request for vacation. " Deakins showed Bobby the paper, knowing that if he hadn't actually put it in, Bobby could figure out who did.

"Ah yes, I decided to take a little vacation, Captain. The last time that I can remember taking a vacation was when I was 15 when I went to visit my cousins in Minnesota. No one else is scheduled for vacation right now, are they? I guess I could put it off for a little while. " Bobby replied as he counted the years since his last so called vacation. As if you could call taking care of a drunk aunt and two mentally confused cousins a vacation.

Deakins shook his head, "It's fine Bobby, I was just double checking. What are you gong to do on your vacation? Does Eames know?"

Now it was Bobby's turn to shake his head, "No, I haven't told her yet. But," Bobby looked toward the hallway, "It looks like I'll have the opportunity now. Here she comes."

Deakins turned and walked away as he saw Eames coming towards her desk. It seemed to him that this was a private moment that only the partners should share with each other. Besides, the view of their conversation would be better from his office.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Alex nodded and smiled as Bobby told her his plans to take a vacation. Personally, she thought he was long overdue and that a change would do him good. She had heard it said that two years were all a body could abide for things staying the same---- but it seemed that Bobby's two years of staying the same had turned into fifteen. Frankly, she wasn't sure how he had lasted that long. She and Joe had always made a point to at least get away for a few weekends every year even if they couldn't get away for longer than that. Since he died, she had kept up that tradition. Maybe people called her romantic, but she called it practical.

"That's great, Bobby. I'm happy for you. Do you know what you are going to do on your vacation? Finally figure out how Lynne Andrews works her sewing machine so well?" Alex joked while she thought about what she was going to do while Bobby was on vacation. She figured she might as well move their desks around, something that she had been wanting to do for a looong time.

" I think I'm going to go up to the Maritimes and do some fishing. I've always wanted to go up there, but I never quite made it. " Bobby's voice trailed off and as he started to remember his time in Minnesota. That episode alone was enough to turn anyone off of a vacation for good.

Alex nodded her head in agreement for she knew all about Minnesota, "Don't worry Bobby, it's not like your family will be there. I'm sure that you'll have a great time. When was I was 10, my parents took me up to PE Island- land of Anne. It was really quite fun."

Bobby smiled, "That's nice Eames, but I think I'm going to spend most of my time on Nova Scotia. If I get too lonely, I'll remember that once you were only a hop and skip away."

Alex laughed, sometimes Bobby said the strangest things. "Well, I hope nothing too major happens while you're gone or Deakins is sure to assign me a temporary partner." Alex shuddered, "Personally, I think you got pretty lucky with Bishop, I've heard about some real nightmares."

He laughed, "You know, Alex, I hadn't even thought of that. Maybe I should extend my vacation for another month so that you can have as much fun with a temporary partner as I had with Bishop. Good times, good times."

Alex just stared at Bobby, he was acting so differently than he normally did. She hoped that a vacation would help him keep this happier state of mind. "Well, you do realize, that if it gets too complicated, we'll have to call you so that you can help, dear Robert." Alex smirked as she lifted one eyebrow.

"Don't worry Alexandra, I'll leave my beeper on just for you. " Bobby assured her as he patted her on the head.

"But Bobby, you haven't kept a pager in years." Alex protested as she glared at him icily for using her full name and petting her on the head like a little child.

"My point exactly." Bobby said as he straightened his papers and walked out the door. When he'd almost gone, he turned back and said, "Don't forget to tell Deakins that I want two months instead of one."

Alex just looked at him as she tried to suppress a very strong urge to stick out her tongue.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


	2. Chapter 2

-1Chapter 2-

_Dedication- Dear Readers, this chapter is for you. Most Sincerely, BookWorm38_

Bobby awoke with a start as his train pulled into the Halifax station. He rolled over to the other side as he looked at his clock. It was exactly 2 am. A lot of people would have picked a train that arrived later in the morning so that they could sleep longer, but Bobby was one of those not so rare people who have a hard time sleeping no matter what was going on. Besides, Bobby had always found a certain sort of charm and cool in the wee sma's. Most in his line of work had given up ideas of charm in the night long ago for it had become too tainted by all the brutal crimes that were constantly being perpetrated against their great city but there were just some romantic notions that Bobby just wouldn't give up.

He arose from his fold out bed and gathered up his belongings as he put the room back in order. His investigative ways had made him somewhat of a neat freak and very persnickety. He had often thought that if he hadn't been a detective with a clear sense of right and wrong that he would have made a rather good criminal. Well, of course he would have, that's what made him so good at doing what he did because he could get inside the perp's mind without getting stuck there. Bobby wasn't sure were his great personal strength had come from especially since it seemed to him that most everyone in his family had been greatly lacking in that department. But, wherever it came from, he thanked God for it.

Once he had his compartment looking the way it had when he entered, he left to depart the train. Bobby had always liked being the last off. It was so interesting for him to see the remnants of those who had just been on. Just one glance in the room was adjacent to his, he could tell that occupant had been female, slight, troubled and a writer. Usually figuring this things out made Bobby, well, Bobby, but even now he still wasn't that interested. Perhaps there was some sense to the conventional methods of figuring people out. Bobby shook his head as if trying to rid himself of all the extra information that he had been carrying around for so long. Was it really necessary to be quite so observant? If there was one goal for his vacation, it was going to be to pay less attention to everything around him.

Bobby laughed. Just one more train until he was at his destination. Life was about to be sweet.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, Alex stared at the clock as she was finishing up some paperwork for the night. If she was going to have to stay much longer at the bullpen she was going to need some coffee or at least a bed. She really needed to look into getting a place closer to the office. Or, she thought sarcastically, she needed to look into getting a new office. She stretched as she got up to get some coffee. Maybe she should ask Deakins if they could put in a swimming pool. There was nothing like a good cold swim to get your brain working again. Besides, she thought with a grin, they could certainly find other uses for it. Alex couldn't help letting out a large laugh as she imagined dunking some perp's head under the water until they got a confession out of him.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Bobby walked with his small bag along the deserted road to the vacation house that he rented. He had left his trunk back at the station and had instructed the stationmaster that he would send for it in the morning. Taking that thing along the road would have been treacherous. He could have a taken a cab but the truth was that he was in the mood for a long walk. Ever since Bishop had been his temporary partner, he had gotten used to taking the car for things because of her habit of wearing ridiculous shoes on the job. When Eames had come back from maternity leave, he just kept on it. Besides, he was really dubious to how much she should have been walking right after giving birth. Women, Bobby thought, don't always know what's best for them. But, he did realize that if Eames would have said the exact same thing about men.

Normally, Bobby never wore short sleeved shirts because it wasn't very professional or his style, but he had decided that if he was going to on vacation, then he was going to go all the way. However, when the night air began to tickle his bare arms, it surprised him so much that he almost dropped his bag on the side of the road. He had actually forgotten what a cool night air felt like. For someone who always paid so much attention to everything, it seemed to him that he was actually seeing things for the first time in a very long time. And the best thing about it all, was that he actually liked it.

Like a giddy school boy, Bobby noiselessly broke into something akin to a run and a skip. He felt like shouting, but he preferred to wait until he was in a more secluded area. Besides, small communities like these probably prohibited shouting after dark. Bobby could just imagine Deakins face if he got arrested. In order to stop himself from laughing, Bobby pushed harder into the task at hand- running. In fact, he was so concentrated on running that he was almost caught off guard when he came upon his beach house. He hadn't expected four miles to fly by so quickly, but they did. It was amazing what a person could do when he was distracted enough.

The sight, sound, and smell of the sea was so overwhelming for Bobby. He was so glad that he had chosen Nova Scotia for his vacation. The fishing here would be excellent. The ocean was such a mystery to Bobby. Her moods were so hard to tell sometimes. One moment she could be as calm and sweet as a dove and the next she was as violent as a monster. The sea could not be caressed and sweet-talked as easily as a woman could nor could be as easily understood as the criminal mind. The sea was on an entirely different level that Bobby had only encountered a few times before but he was ready to learn her secrets.

Bobby yawned as it dawned on him that he was a very tired man. He turned to walk into his rental house when he realized that the landlady hadn't been there to met him like they agreed. He sighed and began to look in all the usual places for a house-owner might hide a key. He sighed again after a half hour passed by and he still hadn't found it. He briefly thought about breaking in when a better idea began to enter into his mind. Bobby smiled as he laid down in the sand near the side of the house and the fence. It had always been a dream of his sleep on the beach yet something he had never done because it was so outlandish. But really, Bobby thought as he drifted off to sleep, what's the point of taking a vacation if you can't be outlandish?


	3. Chapter 3

-1Chapter 3-

_Author's Explanation- A few things, for starters, it has been brought to my attention that Bobby has worn short-sleeved shirts in the past. My only point was that he hasn't in such a long time that he forgot what it felt like to be free of that-- he has been paying so much attention that he hasn't been paying attention at all. Also, I think that this is mostly going to be BA(which I recently came to realize means more than Bachelors of Arts) friendship-- we will see if it shall evolve beyond that, but I'm not quite sure that it will._

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

_He was running through the fog, trying to find her and to escape from him. They had both come so far and now to get separated from each other just seemed to him a cruel twist of the story. The man with the knife was laughing when he caught up to him. He jabbed him repeatedly with his knife. Bobby waited for the blood and the pain to come. , The jabbing went on but Bobby felt no pain-- just discomfort. He tried smacking away the knife but the bad man continued. He tried to cry out but his voice seemed lost. Then he heard it, a child's voice calling out and he was brought back to reality._

"Ooph" Bobby let out softly as he opened his eyes and realized that it was mid morning. He looked up to see a small imp of girl still poking him with a stick, not realizing that he was already awake. She couldn't have been more than six or seven, Bobby reflected as he studied her for a moment-- still have asleep and not fully grasping what was going on. She was rather pretty for a child with clear blue eyes like a summer's sky, pale skin-- perhaps a little too pale, like she had been sick for some time, and long dark hair.

"Mister," She called out again to Bobby as she poked him with her stick for a final time, " are you dead?"

Bobby shook off the urge to laugh, knowing that it would have startled her as he let out a gentle no.

"Oh good. I've been poking you and poking you but you wouldn't wake up so I thought you were dead." The girl let out with relief as she could a sit by Bobby so she could get a better look at him.

Bobby sat up from where he had been sleeping- still trying to get his bearings straight. "No, I was just sleeping. But, you really shouldn't go around poking people that you don't know--especially sleeping people. It's very dangerous little girl."

The little girl's eyes grew wide as she started at him. "Are you a bad man?"

Bobby shook his head, "No, I'm a police detective, but you can't always tell."

She shook her head in agreement, "Then are you a drunk?"

He laughed, "No, I'm not that either."

She scratched her head as if in deep thought, "Then are you homeless?" She asked with pity in her voice.

"No, I'm not homeless. I live in New York City. I came here for a vacation but I couldn't get into the house I'm staying in last night so I decided to sleep on the beach." Bobby explained.

"I'm so glad!" The girl jumped up and began to skip about Bobby, "My Uncle Beau told me that only homeless men, bad men or drunk men sleep on beaches. He told me never to talk to them but you didn't seem so scary to me. He's a police officer too and sometimes he lets me ride in his car if Aunt Katie says I can. "

"I'm Bobby, what's your name?" He asked as she continued to skip around him. He also began to wonder where her parents were, "Where's your family."

"I'm Evie! My Aunt Katie's over there" Evie turned and pointed to the left behind her. " She manages the cottages on the beach and sometimes I get to help her if I'm not stuck at Mrs. Landry's. " Evie stuck out her tongue in distaste. "ooh! Can I keep you for a pet?"

Before Bobby could answer her, a petite woman looking much like Evie came around the corner with a box in her hands, "Evie, I need your help--" She cut off her sentence as she caught sight of Bobby. "Evie, come over here this instant." She said in a stern voice.

Evie ran over to her, "Don't worry, Aunt Katie, he's not a bad man, he's not homeless and he's not a drunk! He's Bobby and he's a defective in New York!"

Kate, with a confused look on her face, tried to comprehend what Evie was telling her. Evie had a terrible habit of confusing one word for another.

Bobby laughed, "I'm a police detective, Evie, not a police defective." Bobby stood as he pulled out his badge for Kate to see- he hoped that would take the look of alarm of her face. "I'm Robert Goren. I'm renting the house right there for a few weeks. I couldn't find a key last night so I just slept on the beach."

"Oh!" Kate let out a gasp, "I'm so sorry. I didn't think that you were coming until tonight. I'm Kate Weathers." She said as she held out her hand for Bobby to shake. "I'm so certain that I put you down for the 15th."

"Originally I was, but then I called and left a message with…" His voice trailed off as he looked at Evie.

Evie looked down at her feet, "Sorry, Aunt Katie, I forgot to tell you…"

"Evie," Kate chided her niece, "How many times have I told you not to answer the business phone while I am away? I'm sorry that you had to spend the night outside, Det. Goren. If you'll follow me, I'll let you into the house now."

Bobby picked up his little bag. He was getting pretty excited to go in and see what his surroundings were going to be for the next month or so. Kate led up him up the porch and handed him a key before she unlocked the door. "I think you'll find everything that you need. Luckily, I finished cleaning it out for you yesterday."

Bobby stepped inside the house. It was small, but he thought that it would be suitable for him. The living room was open to the dining room and the kitchen. Bobby liked that because it was a straight shot from the TV to the beer. He'd certainly be living the life. The dining room had a sliding glass door that led straight out to the beach. There were also tables and chairs outside if he cared to dine out there. Past the living room there was a hallway to the right where Kate told him that he would fine the bedrooms and bathroom. Kate led him down the hallway to show him how the shower would worked. It was one of those fickle old things that would only turn on if you pressed it the right way.

"Well, I think that's everything you're going to need, Det. Goren," Kate said as she watched him take in his surroundings. "If you need anything, please don't hesitate to call me. Oh! I almost forgot. I'll be back around 5 with your groceries and your dinner."

Bobby looked at her, " Please call me Bobby. I didn't know that house came with groceries and dinner."

Kate smiled, "Well, both your sister and your father made it a point to call me and ask if I would get you groceries and bring your meals."

Bobby was confused, "My sister and my father?"

"Yes," Kate continued, "Your sister Alex. I could only commit to bringing you dinners though. Both of them thought that would be fine. We do have a lot of restaurants in town if you want to eat there. Does five work for you?"

Bobby nodded, "Five is fine, I'll have to be sure and thank my sister for calling."

Kate shrugged, not catching the joke. "If you think of anything that you particularly want, just call me and I'll get it for you. Anyways, Evie and I will leave you to get settled in."

Bobby watched as they left. He could tell that there was definitely more to their story than what met the eye. He'd tried to figure it out later. The only thing that he wanted to do right then was go and take a shower. Sure, sleeping on the beach was nice, but it certainly did make you pretty grimy.

_Author's PS- I rarely ever proof read things-- as I'm sure you've noticed. So, if someone wants to do that for me, let me know._


End file.
